Page 752 - war-and-peace

bank of the Niemen awaiting Napoleon’s arrival, saw both
Emperors get into boats, and saw how Napoleonreaching
the raft firststepped quickly forward to meet Alexander and
held out his hand to him, and how they both retired into the
pavilion. Since he had begun to move in the highest circles
Boris had made it his habit to watch attentively all that went
on around him and to note it down. At the time of the meet-
ing at Tilsit he asked the names of those who had come with
Napoleon and about the uniforms they wore, and listened
attentively to words spoken by important personages. At
the moment the Emperors went into the pavilion he looked
at his watch, and did not forget to look at it again when Al-
exander came out. The interview had lasted an hour and
fifty-three minutes. He noted this down that same evening,
among other facts he felt to be of historic importance. As the
Emperor’s suite was a very small one, it was a matter of great
importance, for a man who valued his success in the ser-
vice, to be at Tilsit on the occasion of this interview between
the two Emperors, and having succeeded in this, Boris felt
that henceforth his position was fully assured. He had not
only become known, but people had grown accustomed to
him and accepted him. Twice he had executed commissions
to the Emperor himself, so that the latter knew his face, and
all those at court, far from cold-shouldering him as at first
when they considered him a newcomer, would now have
been surprised had he been absent.
Boris lodged with another adjutant, the Polish Count
Zhilinski. Zhilinski, a Pole brought up in Paris, was rich,
and passionately fond of the French, and almost every day

752 War and Peace